I. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an appurtenance for swimming pools, and more particularly, to a coping assembly for the edge of a swimming pool wall.
II. Description of the Prior Art
It has long been known to apply a coping or edging to the corner of a pool wall. A pool coping provides a hard and attractive frame on which the bather may stand and which may be used to aid in the entry to and exit from the pool. It can also serve to cover any sharp edge or corner of the pool wall and prevent injury to the bather that might arise from contact with that edge.
Swimming pool copings formed from curved, extruded members are known in the art; for example, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,291 to Rozanski. Other pool copings, such as that disclosed by Greene in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,512,326 and 3,785,099 include a plurality of coping pieces which interlock with a framing member and each other.
However, these and other known swimming pool coping structures share several disadvantages. Swimming pool copings which comprise a large multiplicity of short coping segments require a substantial amount of time to be installed. Unless the distance to be traversed by the pool coping happens to be equal to an even multiple of the length of the coping pieces, at least one coping piece will have to be cut to a particular length, different from the length of the other pieces. This gives a nonuniform and unattractive appearance to the pool coping. Moreover, many of the known pool coping system incorporate a rather complex interlock system or framing substructure, which increases both the cost of providing the coping and the difficulty of installing it. Finally, many known pool coping systems require a special corner piece to be applied at the juncture of the pool walls. This piece must often be molded or formed in a manner substantially different from the straight segments of pool coping. Such corner pieces are often oddly shaped and cannot be packed in as convenient a fashion as are the straight coping pieces.